Thiswhitepaper, prepared by Strategen Consulting for the Global Energy Storage Alliance, with generous funding support by the Wells Fargo Foundation. provides clear and practical guidance on how electric utilities can procure energy storage resources to perform as electric resources used to balance supply and demand on the electric grid. It includes an introduction to energy storage technologies and applications, example utility procurements and storage pilots, as well as links to helpful resources.

Energy storage solutions, which can consume, store, and then discharge electricity, are a growing part of the electric generation fleet around the United States. This is particularly true in California where storage policies and stakeholder interest have created a relatively more developed energy storage market. Since energy storage is a resource class that can act as generation and load while being interconnected in different configurations on the grid, establishing consistent and clear energy storage procurement processes can be challenging. This is especially true for procurement processes in which storage competes against ‘traditional’ generation resources to solve an electric system need.

To address these energy storage procurement challenges (which in turn will help storage play a growing role in electric grids), “A Framework for Utility Procurement of Energy Storage” provides insightful advice and deep research, offering readers actionable guidance on how to structure and execute a storage solicitation utilizing the “Energy Storage Procurement Framework”.

The Global Energy Storage Alliance (GESA) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded in 2014 whose mission is to advance education, collaboration, knowledge and proven frameworks about the benefits of energy storage and how it can be used to achieve a more efficient, cleaner, reliable, affordable and secure electric power system globally. GESA was jointly founded by the California Energy Storage Alliance (CESA), the German Energy Storage Association (BVES), the China Energy Storage Alliance (CNESA), the India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA), the US Energy Storage Association (ESA), and the Alliance for Rural Electrification (ARE). www.globalesa.org